Ministry of Defence

AWE

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 2 July 2014, Official Report, column 676W on AWE, what his most recent estimate is of the (a) anticipated out-turn cost and (b) projected in-service date of each of the new build projects in the Atomic Weapons Establishment Site Development Context Plan.

Michael Fallon: The approved costs and in-service dates of the current new build projects at the Atomic Weapons Establishment, are shown below.In-service dates are shown in bandings to avoid prejudice to national security and defence. No costs are attributed to projects detailed in Table 2 as these have yet to be formally approved.Table 1 - Approved new-build projectsOngoing projectsFunctionIn-Service PeriodApproved cost £millionWarhead assembly/disassembly – MensaManufacturing/production2016-20734Uranium components – PegasusManufacturing/production2016-20634Table 2 – Planned projects not yet approvedOngoing projectsFunctionIn-Service PeriodSalts Processing - OctansTesting/research2020-25Initiator system manufacture-TaurusManufacturing/production2020-25Large Scale formulations-ScorpiusManufacturing/production2025-30Small Scale formulations-CepheusManufacturing/production2025-30New Plutonium (Pu) Facility – not yet namedManufacturing/production2025-30New depleted Uranium FacilityManufacturing/production2025-30Assembly for Trials-ColumbaTesting/research2025-30High Explosive Climatic TrialsTesting/research2025-30Non-Metallics & materials R&D-LibraTesting/research2025-30Chemical processing-AstraManufacturing/production2025-30

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Israel: Housing

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if his Department will make representations to the Israeli government about the proposed demolition of the Israeli Arab village of Umm-al-hiran.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Embassy in Tel Aviv has raised the issue of demolition of the villages of Um-il-Hiran and Ateer with the Ministry of Justice and the Arab Affairs Officer at the Prime Minister’s office. The Embassy continues to monitor the situation closely and demonstrates concern by regularly visiting Bedouin communities in the Negev.

Afghanistan: MI6

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether any Special Intelligence Service officers have been posted at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan since October 2001.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: There is no Special Intelligence Service. Should the question be referring to the Secret Intelligence Service, which does exist, then it is a long-standing policy of successive British governments not to comment on intelligence matters.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

EU Grants and Loans: Northern Ireland

Mr Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much has been allocated to Northern Ireland in (a) EU Structural Funds and (b) special initiatives in each year since 2010.

Anna Soubry: The indicative EU Structural Funds and Peace Initiative allocations for Northern Ireland can be found on the Northern Ireland administration’s Department of Finance and Personnel’s website.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Digital Technology: Young People

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to widen access to the digital economy for young people.

Mr Edward Vaizey: This Government is ensuring that young people can participate in the digital economy. The new computing curriculum was launched in schools in September 2014, supporting young people to be digitally confident, and reformed digital apprenticeships are providing more opportunities for young people to gain the digital skills employers value. This Government has also launched a new digital degree apprenticeship, giving young people from all backgrounds high-level digital skills training alongside on-the-job experience.

Digital Technology: Young People

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to help young people engage with the digital economy.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The Government’s Digital Engagement team works in partnership with more than 90 signatories of the 2014 Digital Inclusion Charter, which supports programmes to increase young people’s engagement in digital skills and the digital economy. We also support the ‘Your Life’ campaign which is helping to change perceptions of technology and other STEM subjects among all young people. A network of STEM Ambassadors from industry and academia actively work with schools to encourage young people to choose STEM subjects, and embark on digital careers.

Department for Work and Pensions

Self-employed: Welfare Tax Credits

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraph 1.123 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, what assessment he has made of the effect of uprating the individual threshold in the minimum income floor for self-employed people on the household income of a tax credit claimant family with two children and one self-employed earner under the age of 25 earning £12,194 over the course of a year.

Priti Patel: There is no Minimum Income Floor (MIF) in the tax credit system.In Universal Credit the MIF is designed to address issues in the current system which enable self-employed claimants to receive full State support while declaring low or zero earnings indefinitely.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Dogs: Animal Welfare

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the threat to human health and safety from poor canine welfare at breeding establishments; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice: There are a number of diseases that can be passed between animals and humans (these are known as zoonotic diseases). Those affecting dogs include bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites. One of the standard conditions of holding a dog breeding establishment is that all reasonable precautions must be taken to prevent and control the spread of infectious or contagious diseases.

Home Office

UK Visas and Immigration: Correspondence

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many curtailment letters were issued by UK Visas and Immigration between 10 January 2015 and 11 December 2015.

James Brokenshire: There were 34,100 letters cancelling the visa of an individual who no longer meets their visa requirements served between 10 January and 30 September 2015.

Large Goods Vehicle Drivers: Calais

Richard  Arkless: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to ensure the safety and security of UK HGV drivers from their approach to Calais to entering the UK.

James Brokenshire: The haulage industry is hugely important to UK trade and prosperity and Her Majesty’s Government regularly speaks with haulage industry representatives to listen to their concerns regarding the situation in northern France. The Government is funding improved security measures and port infrastructure to protect the travelling public, including HGV drivers, in the Calais area. This includes the introduction of security fencing around port perimeters and along the port approach roads at Calais port and at the Coquelles Eurotunnel site; and the introduction of new secure zones for UK-bound HGVs at both locations. In addition, the UK and French authorities also work closely to share intelligence to combat illegal migrant activity and organised immigration crime.

Entry Clearances: Palestinians

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 2 December 2015 to Question 18122, (a) how many times and (b) on what grounds Palestinian academics have not been given permission to attend academic conferences in the UK in the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: Acquiring information on the number of times academics of Syrian nationality have been refused entry to attend an academic conference would involve examining each individual case record held by UK Visas and Immigration for the category. To do so would incur a disproportionate cost.In order to safeguard an individual’s personal information and comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 the Home Office is limited in what information it can provide when the request is made by someone who is not the applicant. The Home Office is therefore unable to provide information on the reasons for refusing entry to the UK.All applications are considered on their individual merits and in line with the Immigration Rules.

Immigration

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she plans to take to reduce net migration from Europe, other than seeking reform of provision of welfare for non-British EU citizens.

James Brokenshire: Free movement is an important principle of the EU but it is not an unqualified right and it must be grounded in the freedom to take up work in another Member State, to contribute to the economy and to integrate into society.We have taken firm steps to restrict access to out of work benefits by EU jobseekers and we can remove them if they are not in a job within six months. We have removed access to Universal Credit and Housing Benefit for jobseekers and introduced a new test to check whether EU nationals who claim in-work benefits really have meaningful and effective employment here.We have toughened the Habitual Residence Test, the gateway test which all migrants have to satisfy to access benefits, and we have introduced tougher checks for the payment of child benefit and child tax credit to EU nationals. To tackle abuse, we have introduced new powers so that EU nationals who don’t meet the requirements for residence are removed and banned from coming back for 12 months, unless they have a valid reason to be here (for example an immediate job start).The Prime Minister set out in his speech on 10 November and in his letter to the President of the European Council the issues we are seeking to tackle through the EU reform negotiations to restore a sense of fairness to our immigration system and to reduce the current very high level of population flows from within the EU into the UK.

Police Cautions

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cautions have been given for any offence in each police force area in each of the last three years.

Mike Penning: The number of cautions recorded in each police force area during 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15 are provided in the attached table. These are based on data published by the Home Office which are available by police force area and offence type at the following link: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tablesCautions data published by the Home Office are based on the number of offences recorded by the police that resulted in cautions by the police.The Ministry of Justice publish caution data based on the number of offenders cautioned which are available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/428954/data-behind-interactive-data-tools.zip

Firearms: Terrorism

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many legally owned .22 calibre semi-automatic rifles have been used in terrorist offences in the last 10 years.

Mike Penning: The National Ballistics Intelligence Service regularly assesses the volume and type of legal and illegal firearms in criminal use in the UK. The information is operationally sensitive and is not suitable for release.

Asylum: Liverpool

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons applicants who reside in Liverpool, Wavertree constituency who have outstanding asylum claims are no longer given a timeframe for completion of that application.

James Brokenshire: Asylum Operations has existing processes that ensure claimants and legal representatives have contact details should they wish to discuss case progression. In addition, all claimants and representatives are kept informed should an initial decision on their asylum claim be delayed beyond 6 months with this correspondence outlining the reason for delay and providing an approximate timescale as to when a decision can be expected.

Northern Ireland Office

MI5: Northern Ireland

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what additional funding the Government plans to provide for monitoring and observation of terrorist activities by the Security Service in Northern Ireland.

Mrs Theresa Villiers: It would not be appropriate for me to comment on matters which are the responsibility of the security and intelligence agencies.The recently published Strategic Defence and Security Review includes a commitment from the UK Government to invest in capabilities needed to keep the people of the UK safe. As part of this, the Government has allocated £160 million of additional security funding to the Police Service of Northern Ireland over the next five years in order to tackle the threat from Northern Ireland Related Terrorism.

Department of Health

Womb Cancer

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to raise awareness of womb cancer.

Jane Ellison: Public Health England (PHE) runs the ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaigns to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of specific cancers, and to encourage those with symptoms to see their doctor promptly.Although womb cancer is not covered by ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ specifically, Public Health England is looking at developing an approach to raise awareness of generic symptoms that can indicate a wider number of cancers and the need to visit the doctor promptly with these symptoms. This work is currently in development, with the help of a number of experts, including clinicians and charities.The NHS Choices website provides information on the symptoms of womb cancer and when to seek medical advice. This can be found by searching ‘womb cancer symptoms’ on NHS Choices: http://www.nhs.uk/pages/home.aspx

Ambulance Services

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what account he has made of the reason for the failure to meet ambulance response time targets for Red 1 999 emergencies between June 2015 and September 2015; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: Ambulance services are experiencing a significant increase in demand compared with previous years.NHS England and trusts are responding to this challenge with a number of measures including the Ambulance Response Programme which enables trusts to provide a more clinically appropriate response to patients.In 2014/15, there were 1,048,500 more ambulance journeys compared with 2009/10 (2,800 per day). There are now almost 2,000 more paramedics compared to 2010.

Nutrition

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will encourage clinical commissioning groups to prevent inequalities through adequate HCP outsourcing and training on medical nutrition.

Jane Ellison: Preventing health inequalities is a priority for the Department of Health. The Health and Social Care Act 2012 placed a duty on the Secretary of State to have regard to the need for reducing health inequalities between the people of England and the National Health Service. Clinical commissioning groups take forward this duty in terms of access to, and quality of, local services.The role of health care professionals is integral to this effort, given that they address a range of health unhealthy behaviours, including around poor nutrition and obesity. It is the responsibility of the professional regulators to set the standards and outcomes for education and training and approve training curricular to ensure newly qualified healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to prove high quality patient care. In the case of dietitians, this includes being able to accurately assess nutritional needs of individuals, groups and populations.NHS England has the lead in supporting the work of CCGs and, while it has previously undertaken a mapping exercise to gauge the extent of formal training and education on these issues for pre-registration courses, it is not currently undertaking any work on this.